Full Cycle
by Damoclesvice
Summary: When the hero of Sinnoh goes missing, his friends realize his disappearance is part of a much larger plot that could enclose their world. All signs point to a mysterious trainer Delta, his pinkette traveling companion, and his bizarre partner. A place beyond ideals and truth, and war just won't do it justice.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note/disclaimer: I don't own the pokemon franchise, but do own some individual units of their product. I am simply a fan of the games, and like fanfiction. Please enjoy.**

**Or not.**

* * *

**1st Cycle: Search**

* * *

Standing.

That was his first thought, a simple observation of his current status.

Standing.

He looked around quizzically, but not sure for what or why. He stood near a lake, and quite a beautiful view, he decided. The water at the edge was mirror-like, clean, and very deep. He gazed at the verdant nature and quiet depths, and was pleased to have had a second thought.

He had realized his location was _Lake Verity_.

This realization pleased him. He didn't know why, nor how he knew this location since he was sure he'd never been here before. It then occurred to him to wonder what a Lake was or, more precisely, how he could identify one. He couldn't recall any hard facts about his own existence pre-dating this moment. He looked himself over, hypothesizing he was some manner of entity that learned things by seeing them.

He was pretty sure that was incorrect.

He saw he was wearing heavy brown things-_travel boots_- on his feet. He also wore dark blue-green pants that he somehow knew were very sturdy. He was wearing an off-white, subtlety pink shirt under a light brown aviator's jacket with a more prominent pink collar. He wore a sash across his torso from his right shoulder to hip, a soft pink color with a brown edge and small golden clasp-hooks.

He temporarily disregarded his clothing in favor of his reflection. The reflection was definitely a reflection, as it confirmed what he had already observed about his appearance. He also discovered he had a somewhat pale face with large blue eyes. He also decided he was effeminate, and also that he was male, and realized why he thought with the pronoun 'he'. His eyes were glass like, abnormal, and seemed to be a shadow of something he should remember. He didn't like knowing this was abnormal, or not being able to verify that with proof to compare with. His hair reached his eyebrows, but reached farther down to his neck on the left side of his face. It was a shiny, unnatural black.

He didn't know why, but that color made him uncomfortable. _Unnatural_.

He would've stood there all day, contemplating his physical existence, if not for something, two somethings, on the opposite shore.

It was a tall man in a blue vest, with white hair connected to a big white mustache via sideburns. Something about him set off alarms in his head, but he couldn't quite get why. He also noticed a girl, maybe around 13, somewhat sorter than himself. She had straight blue hair, a white cap, and red jacket. Both were staring intently at a rock formation in the middle of the lake, the smaller with a large avianoid being covered in shiny black metal, with 3 large golden horns.

He recited something by rote."**Empoleon****_, the emperor pokémon. __Typing: water/steel hybrid. Rank: Paragon. Notes: High offensive power, wings can easily cut or crush ice floes. Horns are a symbol of level and power. Has the ability to glide. Prefers cold climates. Social creatures, enjoy bragging. Evolution chain: piplup, prinplup, empoleon."_**

He started, but not because he was unnerved by his prior knowledge of what an empoleon was, but by the apparently 'paragon' rank pokémon. It was diving into the water with a metallic gray rope attached to its leg, and seemed to be coming for him. He looked back at his reflection, assessing the situation. It was possible he was being hunted, and those were the hunters, in which case he was in danger. He saw the orb attached to 3 of the metal hook-clasps on his sash. He unhooked it and acted on instinct born of a past he couldn't fathom.

"I choose you!"

* * *

_She knew her instructions, and waited._

_And waited._

_And waited..._

_..._

_She could remember that past, and did. She wished to forget, wished to un-remember, but knew that to forget that past would be to deny her **vow**._

_She would not deny that._

_She also knew to deny her failure would to deny her hate...sorrow...most of all..._

_Her reason. For that reason directed her, and marked her path. For that **vow**, she couldn't falter. And for this time, she had to wai-_

a shake.

_Anxiety came upon her with the force of a Draco meteor as she felt movement within the void, which was replaced by a giddy joy as she heard a sound from beyond the void._

_A voice, forming the command that would free her from the void and release her to achieve her vow. Just three words..._

" I choose you!"

* * *

Dawn and Rowan had come to regularly check up on Lake Verity, hoping against hope for a sight of Lucas again. Ever since she visited him at the villa a year ago, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him. It was nearly a year ago that anybody had seen or heard _anything_ of him. Last anyone had heard, he had been in Celestic town, researching the myths surrounding the Sinnoh pantheon Pokémon. He had left after several weeks, and had never been seen again.

It really scared her. He had managed to tame Giratina, the **antimatter Pokémon**. What kind of thing could take him out?

She and Rowan had decided to try and interrogate Mespirit in the lake cave. Mespirit definitely had a connection to Lucas, and had even helped him to suppress Giratina's destructive nature. If no human knew where her friend was, then- wait.

She saw a brown and pink thing across the lake. It wasn't, she thought it wasn't, a Pokémon. A person, and on the far side of the lake. She decided to help him, as he certainly couldn't get across the lake himself.

"Empoleon," she called to her friend "that guy needs our help! But be careful." Empoleon turned towards the lake, and dived like a high-power submarine.

Going underwater, he shot through the clear water like a torpedo. He was planning on helping to speak with the legendary Mespirit, and locate Lucas. He knew that Verde Mundo, Lucas's Torterra, was immensely strong. Even if Lucas was in trouble, he'd be found safe.

Empoleon tugged at the heart rope on his left leg. Even across the lake, Dawn could use the end of the rope around her left wrist to communicate her wishes directly to his heart. It was supposed to be used as a way for Dawn and the scary-faced man to communicate with the mythical Mespirit through Empoleon. For now, he could use it to learn how to deal with the one who needs rescuing.

When he surfaced, he expected to find a slightly dazed human on a beach. He didn't expect that serene, almost bored gaze.

And he could never expect the thing that stood between them. For the second time ever, he felt offended on behalf of another that _wasn't_ his master.

* * *

He was dumbstruck. Or at least, he would be, if his understanding of pokémon wasn't an encyclopedia of all known species with no link to prior experiences. Instead, he was mildly surprised that he didn't switch to rote mode at the site of, well, whatever name his pokémon assumed. While the penguin just stood there, he gathered observational data on the creature he summoned.

It was doglike, with short, silver-gray fur. Its hind legs had jet-black bands on the forelegs, and appeared to each be composed of a single metal band. Its tail was segmented, and was either composed of/coated in a greenish black metalloid. Its shoulders had crimson cables attached to the back of its neck, and that was hidden by a white fur collar.

Those observations took 3 seconds.

He then compared its physiology to hundreds of images he realized were at his disposal. He realized that this, though an odd specimen, was a shiny **eevee**.

Given the nature of its form, it was some odd...variation. Suddenly, 'rote mode' activated. **_Name: eevee. Type: normal. Rank: demi-paragon. Notes: extremely versatile. Unstable DNA, combined with a bizarre ability to create new alleles spontaneously when under environmental stress gives eevee the ability to evolve into one of 8 known species. They can, theoretically, thrive in any environment. Evolution chain: eevee-(jolteon, flareon, vaporeon, espeon, umbreon, leafeon, glaceon, silveon)._**

The pokémon turned back and snarled at him. He saw the unnatural sleekness of its forehead, the pink scar between it's nostrils, and the polychromatic sclera

More than those things, he understood this pokémon's _will_. As if it was cryong out n madness, eagerness, and reckless desire. It wanted to fight-it _must_ fight-and **now**. Regardless of his thoughts, his intentions, or even speculations, the meaning of this creature's posture was unmistakable anyway. It wanted to be released.

And he was happy to oblige.

* * *

Dawn gasped. "_What is this? It's like a dream!"_

Dawn could feel her body where she left it, but she could also 'feel' herself behind Empoleon. She could also see the stranger on the shore, and his 'pokémon', much more clearly.

'_Is this that astral projection thing psychics do?_' She knew the heart rope was developed by the psychic gym leader Sabrina in Kanto, but she never expected this.

"**RrrrraAaaaaaaissshhh!**"

Dawn's astral form was nearly shattered by the pokémon's inner voice, and her mind reeling from it's actual voice. that ,whatever it was, meant business. She could see that the guy was calm, slightly confused, and certainly not aggressive.

She also saw the sheer intent in his pokémon's eyes. It wasn't aggression, fear, or even eagerness-it was simply a need to act until exhausted. As if someone had managed to stop up a volcano, then let it loose.

If she wanted to help, she'd need to calm his pokémon down, and that meant a fight. Not how she wanted to, but she and Empoleon were always ready when it mattered!

* * *

After observing the two a little longer, and reviewing what things he already knew, he decided that; yes, he was hiding. No, he wasn't being pursued. And no, these two people weren't inherently dangerous to his goals.

He didn't know his goals.

He was forced to pay attention when his eeveelution issued a challenge. The empoleon responded by crossing its arms for attack. His own, whatever, seemed to get happier at the hostile act.

'_No choice now_.' He thought haggardly. Time to fight.

* * *

**Battle Start!**

"_Empoleon, use metal claw!_"

The mysterious pokémon dodged, while the mysterious stranger... Stared ahead blankly.

'_What's wrong with him?_' Dawn wondered. She also wondered what his name was, as calling him _mysterious stranger_ was feeling sorta rude.

He had similar thoughts. He tried to think of a name to call his own pokémon, but got distracted by his own absent identification. He stuffed a hand in his pocket, and revealed a trainer card. Apparently, he was named Delta, was fourteen, and...that was it.

Even without out commands, the pokémon moved fast. "Okay, use whirlpool to immobilize it!" Empoleon complied, readying the attack.

Delta considered what to call his pokémon. 'Regardless of species, it must have suitable name, all it's own. Something with meaning...'

He started. 'Why not ask it myself?' He tried to remember the feel of hearing it's voice. He peered at, and into, his pokémon. And sent out a single question.

'Who are you?' He asked.

It-She-answered.

His mind jolted, feeling a new level of understanding, and witnessed a memory lost in sleepy darkness...

* * *

_He sat on the floor of the empty lab. It was cold, like the air and steel, and his entire 'world'. It was dark here, but there was light here, for the glass was here._

_He had snuck from his room, though he was told not to by _Her_, and didn't want to be caught yet. He snuck through the wide, empty halls he called the 'world', and couldn't get out. Weeks of attempts. Months of them. Years. _

_ He was trapped, and he couldn't get out._

_The _other_, the one in the glass was stuck too._

_He stared at the large vessel in front of him. It reached many times taller than himself, but never reached the sky that was shrouded in darkness. It was filled with a bubbly, crimson liquid, and suspended within was the other._

_The _other_ was an eevee, but not._

_The _other_ was broken._

_The _other_ was dead. _

_He wondered if it was _Her_ that brought it here._

_He never saw any others here but _Her_. He sometimes heard others, but _She_ told him to hide whenever there was. Not even _She_ stayed, all the time, and he was only let out within this 'world'. He was here all the time._

_So was this _other_._

_"We are the same." He whispered. "We are here, unable to go beyond. We are always here. Since you're broken, then am I as well? Since you are dead, then what am I?"_

_"Not dead."_

_He whirled, shame written on his face as he recognized her. He thought she would anger, or frown, or upset, but just smiled a sad smile._

_She never got angry, sad, or upset._

_Not at him._

_"Not dead," she repeated," but sleeping. She was hurt, but will be well. You two actually have a great destiny."_

_That word. **Destiny**. Destiny meant future, and future meant life. This creature's tail was broken away, the hind leg's skin shredded, ears torn, eye sockets but empty holes, and he could see her brain as well._

_But life was still there. If life still existed, she was more than he saw, and therefore had meaning._

_She caught on to his question before he asked. As she answered, a true smile, one of hope and tranquility, graced her features._

_"Her name," she whispered lovingly," is_ Ko-Ai."

* * *

"Ko-Ai, use sand-attack!" The pokemon hurled a cloud of the powdery stuff into the emperor pokémon's face. It reeled, and hurled the miniature typhoon far off mark.

'_He got serious_!' She wasn't sure why, but she felt that was good. '_Then I'll go all out too!_' "Empoleon, _sneak and strike!_"

Empoleon wiped its eyes and breathed a barrier of thin mist.

Delta felt another attack coming on. Mist had no offensive purpose, and he somehow knew his pokémon had no offensive moves capable of any lasting harm. However, Ko-Ai had something else that could slay a king.

And now, to use it.

"Ko-Ai, **Hyper voice!"** Ko-Ai stood her ground against the metal claws, feeling a deep well of power become unleashed through her form.

She was finally released.

* * *

**Author's notes: I really wanted to make a pokémon fanfic, and it's (being) done. this story takes place post-game in Platinum, with a minor twist regarding Regigigas and Spear Pillar, though it's been awhile since I've actually played**

**it. It'll also have more than 1 mewtwo, and include mewtwo(s) from both movies, and games.**

**If you're curious about why I named Ko-Ai what she's named, search google along with "great bell", or "Chinese mythology". **

**1/23- I must also apologize for my bad grammar, and being too lazy to mind enough about my dialogue issues to fix those errors also. I will try to avoid future screw ups, and should update this story before Sunday.**


	2. The Gray Scholar

"Speaking."

'_Thinking_.'

"Telepathy/ astral state."

-"Electronic communication"-

* * *

He had reached an apex of his abilities as a human. At this speed, the landscape melted into a blur of brown stone, black shadows, and dangerous outcroppings of jagged stone. Violet-eyes flickered from bone-breaking wall of stone, to gaping hole that would bind his fate. He wove like a serpent escaping from a certain unpleasant demise.

Humans reach their apex when their lives are on the line.

His body released a fresh wave of fear when the path ahead became overcast. Even if the behemoth behind him was capable of hiding its shadow, he would've known anyway. The presence was... not wrong, but... horrible. The sensation it caused was the primal rejection of that which was alien, the feeling a person gets when their most sanctified and most holy of places is invaded, the place desecrated by the presence of the alien material alone.

The fear he felt was not from the presence of the eldritch horror, and not the fear of death. His was the fear of knowing the world around you had seized upon your existence. The horror that the very reality of the place he called home was rejecting his very existence, and had manifested in a draconic visage of platinum spines, wings of oozing darkness, and body formed from miasma into a hellish mimicry of a lethally venomous insect.

Once the pursued young man found a moments respite in a shallow pit, he amended his last thought. The dark draco-bug trying to eat him was no manifestation of the world he found himself in, but the other way around. Giratina, the distortion pokémon, was chasing him to death. His situation was made all the more seemingly hopeless given his location: the Distortion world, Giratina's stomping ground.

Time flowed oddly within this world. Not just slower or faster relative to Earth based on your own coordinates within the Distortion world, but in circles, loops, and vague runes. In short, getting lost here may wind you up in laces you wished weren't even places. Mastery over such a space, acquired over centuries of study and practice(or just being an eldritch entity), gave one some semblance of control over where and when they breached into reality.

He poked his head above the ground, straining some 6th sense for the warden of this dimension. Giratina's nature made it an excellent warden, but difficult friend. The dragon of demise was obsessive, possessive, territorial, reckless, and chaotic by nature. This world was meant to contain the other, and everything that world couldn't take. While nothing could heavily influence either world from the Distortion world, both were easily affected(Giratina's more so) by what happened on Earth.

Because of this, Giratina had used the Distortion to mold the core of its domain into a prison for beings who were too much of a risk to leave unchecked. _She_ would also know this, and that made it that much more important to reach an optimal gate before she gave up the hunt.

He left the reprieve of his hole to make another mad-dash for a gate. Just like he could sense the legendary dragon, he could also determine the placement of wandering portals. He sprinted through a forest of fossilized Distortion world 'trees', petrified by _her_ pervasive influence. The gate had the size, shape, and appearance of a puddle. He knew the time for this one was right, just not the place. On the other hand, if he tried to engage against the witch now, he'd be quickly eliminated.

He reached toward an immaculate red tie part of an immaculate suit obsidian black. "Well, it won't be completely hopeless." He grasped from behind the tie one of six jet-black pokéballs, and rolled it around in his right hand. "After all, I'll need some allies anyway." He smiled a grim smile, and took one step forward.

* * *

"Use **Hyper Voice**!"

Dawn blinked(do astral projections blink?) and braced herself just in time.

"**eeEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH**!"

Empoleon's attack was forced back by the sheer force of the attack. He knew that eevees possessed the potential to learn the technique for really loud noise, but that was no reason to suspect this little one had it. The pain from the concussive noise blasting into its skull far exceeded the actual damage, but it would have to distance itself from the walking foghorn until it recovered.

While Empoleon shook itself of the ringing, Dawn studied the trainer and his 'mecha eevee'. She was as shocked as Empoleon was to see the pokémon's state. She knew of terrible things happening to pokémon, but to alter an innocent pokémon into a literal weapon? What **the heck was wrong with this guy! **

...Wait a sec.

The eevee was quivering... in _joy_.

Dawn was confused again. No spite against this trainer, nor offense against Empoleon's presence. No cruelty, no pain, no nihilism, but the simple pride and joy a child might have at a minor accomplishment.

Dawn nodded her head, and reaffirmed her past conviction. 'No need to be too aggressive them,' she had a wicked grin, 'but all the more reason to End it quickly!'

"_Empoleon, Whirl island tactics!_"

Empoleon readied metal claw, but, rather than attack, he dug his wings into the ground and traced a trench diagonal to the little fox.

Delta tracked Empoleon's movments. That path would curve behind Ko-Ai, but there was something else...

"Uh oh. Ko-Ai, yell at the ground!"

Ko-Ai didn't get it, but used hyper voice on the soft ground.

Soft, muddy ground.

Soft, muddy, moving ground!

Empoleon was circling eevee, not searching for an opening, but just increasing the centripetal spiral force of his whirlpool attack. It was a sequence that would remake the terrain into a traphole.

Ko-Ai escaped the trap by using the force of its own attack, but was now helpless in the air.

Dawn saw the opening. "_The finale! Use a Flash Cannon!_"

A shining sphere of flickering silver lights and iron dust materialized in front of Empoleon. It breathed in, then blew the energized payload on a near collision course for the falling foe. The attack didn't hit, but the shockwave that came from the stream's edge was enough to put the forged pokémon down.

The eevee was spun through the air straight into the trainer's waiting arms, apparently unconcerned by his absolute defeat. Why would he mind the loss? He certainly couldn't expect Ko-Ai, a youngish eevee, to take down a fully evolved pokémon, especially an empoleon. Besides that, these two (3 counting the empoleon) weren't aggressive. Empoleon only attacked to relieve Ko-Ai of her bloodlust, though he himself didn't understand why she was so enraged in the first place.

'_How long was she in the pokéball? For that matter, when did I become her trainer?_' His memories were still covered in black, but he had a few. All of them were with his partner eevee. Being chased around a greenhouse somewhere, talking to her while she was in the tank, playing with her so she got the hang of her mechanized form, and **Her**. In each of his memories, there was that woman there...

"Po-olee!" The royal pokémon snapped him out of his reflections. If his newfound ability of having a general idea of what pokémon were saying, the empoleon wanted to give him a ride. Seeing no other way to cross, took him up on his offer.

* * *

-"Donner, what's the hold-up? Did you locate the lair of Mespirit?"- An annoying voice bothered his observations of the battle between pokemon.

The one called Donner was hidden between two thick trunks at the edge of the lake, on a mission to procure the legend. His job was to verify the pokémon remained in the lake, and keep an eye out for strange-going ins and interlopers.

The mecha pokémon was strange.

He pressed a button on the side of his helmet. It vaguely resembled a beedril, or other ugly bug pokémon's face. It was camouflaged to blend in with the leaves and bark, as was his skin tight body suit. As he spoke with his link to command center, he appeared like an outstandingly threatening bug pokémon himself.

"Check the Northern shore. A trainer just appeared, and has engaged into battle with trainer Dawn." He replied in a monotone.

The woman on the other end was unsatisfied. -"What do you mean, a trainer appeared! The cameras you placed are acting u- wait, they're back online! Who is that guy!?"-

Donner sighed in contempt. In a perfect world, the woman who called herself his 'Commander' would be worm food, and he would be in his natural habitat. This was not a perfect world though, and the one to whom he pledged his allegiance assigned him to this woman. And while he feared and loved his master, Commander was simply awful to hear.

He wasn't upset about trying to catch Mespirit, a so-called sacred pokémon. He scoffed at meaningless words like 'sacred' or 'moral'. He didn't even care that much about the sheer boredom of surveillance, or taking orders from another. Rather, it was that the one he was being talked down to was inferior to himself in every way he perceived, which was therefore _every_ _possible way._

He decided to continue his report before commander got louder, and blew his cover. "Trainer appears to have only one pokéball, therefore one pokémon, but there may be more in that satchel of his. He is currently riding Empoleon to the southern shore. Also, he has some sort of...compulsion."

For three blessed moments, Commander was silent. -"What do you mean, compulsion?"-

He adjusted his long-range listening device to pick up the stranger's voice. "Just listen. He seems to do it withy every pokémon he encounters..."

The technicians in the command center listened through Donner's mike.

_"...Name: magikarp, Typing: water pure. Rank: larval. Notes: its only redeeming qualities stat wise are its somewhat decent defense and relatively high speed. Its power is deplorable, though it's said the ancestors were significantly stronger in ancient times. they are impossibly numerous, and swim in huge schools. Evolution chain: magikarp, gyarados."_

Donner's mike was silent for several seconds. An old man's voice was the first to break the silence. -"That was an..._odd_ pokédex entry?"- He seemed unsure of what he was supposed to think.

"Incorrect. He used no pokédex. Rather, he simply recited the speech after seeing a magikarp, and did the same when he saw empoleon _and_ his own eevee. It's as if he memorized a pokédex himself." He didn't bother focusing on that term he used. Rank.

He ranked the empoleon a paragon, and his own eevee a demi-paragon. And magikarp was larval. He knew those terms, paragon and larval. He seemed to perceive a pokémon species basic potential for combat situations. A perfect person to size up unknown foes.

Logically, even that idiot Commander could see the big picture, and worth of this boy. "Donner! Send out a couple of your pokémon to discreetly follow him. Perhaps we can capture him later, but for now, we need _you_ at Lake Verity."

"Understood." He unclipped two pokéballs from his belt, then let 'em fly.

* * *

"Are you alright, Dawn?" Professor Rowan was mildly alarmed when his apprentice went into a trance, but was relieved when Empoleon didn't panic either. Truly, Sabrina's efforts at empathetic technology were progressing faster than before, thanks to Silph Co's funding. The effects were unsettling, but once Dawn opened her eyes and refocused , he knew she was unharmed.

"Professor, do you recognize that guy at all?"

The professor shook his head. "Never, though it seems unlikely his appearance here is mere coincidence. Although, it feels like I've seen that face before."

Dawn nodded her head in agreement. "Professor, how does the heart rope work? Things went a bit...odd...during the battle." She gave a quick recount of her astral battle.

The professor furrowed his brows, more puzzled then upset. "I can't say. Sabrina developed it for Silph Co. 'To tie together the wills of pokémon and humans, so their voices can reach each other beyond any obstacle or phantasm of the world or soul', was the wording she used in her letter. This was apparently a successful prototype she gave to help our search, though I never contacted her about it before."

As Dawn tried to puzzle out how that made sense, the professor raised another question. "Dawn, how do you feel about the eevee you saw while astrally projected?"

Dawn chose her words carefully. "It seemed like a normal eevee. When it attacked, it just wanted to show off and burn energy. It wanted to prove it could stand against whatever was thrown at it, and it did that pretty well! The closest comparison would be a baby pokémon that learned it had power, and wanted to see how they worked."

Rowan nodded. "Indeed. That boy is quite a suspicious character, but I feel he's trustworthy. In fact, I believe he could help us make a breakthrough in revealing Lucas's whereabouts."

Dawn spoke slowly."You think this boy...and Lucas...are somehow connected?"

He gave no answer, but simply gazed onward, his mind working like a thousand gears in preparation for even greater machinations.

* * *

"Huh?" He had awoken from dark dreams, and shook of the ghosts of the in the middle of a flower patch. In front of him was the puddle he had used to crossover, and he could see his reflection framed by the light of the rising sun. From this point of view, it appeared like a halo, or even a hood spun from gold.

'_I may have hit my head, my thoughts are flying around._' He got on his feet, and took a breath of flowery air. "Millennia later, and I could never forget this place." '_Of course, I can no longer forget anything. Ever.'_

He shrugged off those depressing thoughts, and decided to get moving. He palmed another smoky-looking pokéball. A person who saw him do this would assume, mistakingly, that he was a pokémon trainer. A person who found themselves observing this man would in the five miles north of nowhere would guess his age to be the early twenties, but would still be wrong. A person who saw the pokémon he commanded from it would know that the pokémon was foreign, but would be correct naming it garchomp.

A person seeing this dragon would probably assume, correctly, that it was over 2x the size of most garchomp. They could feel, even at 3 dozen meters away, that it was ancient beyond compare. They would feel the raw power as it carried its master through the air like a draconic fighter jet.

A person seeing this, just a young girl really, would return to the shrine until a time as to contact her fellows. The person would review, question themselves into the night, until coming to coming to the same conclusion as her counterparts would.

Enki had left Distortion world.

The warden dragon has become renegade again.


	3. The Pink Watcher

_Black port._

_In the age of heroes, when the world still felt new, there was already evil. Evil is primordial, cunning, and knows how to spread in the most productive of ways. It grows within the hearts of men farming greed and wrath, and was the insatiable hunger for more than was good. It terrorized, tempted, revolted, and oppressed for as long and often as it could, and passed these terrible arts to those who it saw itself. It's greatest skill was its ability to survive on the suffering of others._

_It probably learned how in Black Port._

_Or at least taught it there first._

_The city was little more than shacks and cottages, overlooked by a castle whose bricks were as black as the hearts of its rulers. They were greedy, and from greed came need, from need came cunning, and from cunning came the will and drive to seek power. They found the beasts of air and earth and sea, and bent them to their will._

_They came for their fellow man, and made them into their lessers. And why wouldn't they? They controlled the phantasmal beasts, whose breath could melt stone, and gaze could inflict the worst of curses. They were the wise ones, the divine made flesh to rule. To control the beasts was their sacred duty, to control their plebeian counterparts their divine right. If someone were to say otherwise, or worse, attempt to tame the beasts themselves, was heresay. To succeed, against the order of the world, was impossible._

_They made sure of it._

_They existed solely to rule; to control both man and phantasmal beast. It was only natural for them to send out their lesser-greaters when they found proof of another group across the sea. What else could they do? To let any one or more of their lessers be ignorant of their greaters, and worse, ignorant of their duties as lessers, would be blasphemous! And so they, vessels of a young evil, and followers of a false doctrine, invented war._

* * *

_A young boy, no more than a child, learned of the crusade. This street urchin, a single rodent among the rat kings that inhabited Black Port, saw the outcome. He saw generations of crusades against 'heretics', decades of murder and slaughter, centuries of tears and crushed peoples, all under the rule of those who had no mercy or love for life. Those who were the only ones who could control the phantasmal beasts._

_He knew that they weren't really the only ones; they were just the first._

_And he was another._

_He thought he knew the truth of the world, and understood power beyond what any other among his den mates could. He saw the power, and knew that he too hungered. He despised this helplessness, this physical weakness, this inability to bring down those engorged parasites who called themselves "Noble Rulers"._

_He wanted the phantasmal beasts, for he knew the undebatable truth of the world as he saw it. He would tear down their machinations without regret, without mercy. Their blood would flow like sanguine fountains, and their memories fade into the amoral ledgers of death. He would no longer stand idly, but would conquer and protect. He would let no more fall under the sway of the evil ones. He would be their ruler, but would do it to protect._

_He had stowed away among the more passive phantasmal beasts, a group of dragon kin with red bellies and jagged fangs. Horrifying in appearance, but he understood their natures. As long as he did not oppose them, they could be his allies. He would not allow the fleet to reach these strangers in another land, unprepared for..._

* * *

"Gah!"

She blinked, straining to recognize the place she was in, the odd heat around her, the smell of...fishsticks?

She sighed as the impressions of the nightmare left her. She was no stowaway, with delusions of grandeur and conquest. Well, she was sailing, and she did dream of grandeur, but the dream was not caused by her stress. This me was different...and old. Very, very old.

She pushed up the wooden lid above her body, slightly upsetting her 'boat' as she sat up. It was a coffin-shaped vessel, shallower than a rowboat, and separated into compartments to hold food; clean water; and various outdoor survival gear.

She was proud it, despite its mediocre size. She had built it over several months, sneaking away to the beach saddled with supplies to construct her escape. Most would be uncomfortable within the enclosed space of her escape vessel, and she feared about suddenly capsizing. But, she trusted her design, and she trusted Keelhaul.

The lithe water pokémon curled its head to gaze lovingly at her while it pulled the vessel to safety, wherever that may be.

"You were in a cage too, weren't you Keelhaul?"

Logically, she knew that her being in that place was an inevitability, and her running away was more like cowardice than noble perseverance, but she didn't care. Her dreams were of bigger things then the doldrums that academy promised, and Keelhaul had similar dreams.

Seperate, they were not much. Each one a face that were a dime a dozen. They had suffered through their lives, chewing on dreams of glory that were farther away every day. But the day Stella met Keelhaul, those dreams felt much closer. Together, they had set themselves on a path to ascend to the apex of legend. They would reach the hearts everyone who heard of them, or die trying.

Stella rubbed her hand across her pokémon's dorsal side. No storm nor swell could stop them now! And certainly not the dreams of others.

She shuddered at the end of that last thought. That dream was not the first one. That was another reason she had to leave; the dreams were not something that could be answered within a school. She had heard tales of trainers and the wonders they encountered, and knew what she had to do.

She gratefully accepted a slimy embrace from Keelhaul, the serpentine pokémon soaked with brine and smelling like seaweed.

'_Better than I smell, though.'_ A week of sleeping within a small box had given her a potent scent.

She resisted gagging. "First stop when we land, a shower!"

* * *

The tea was nice. He had drank better, and preferred a lemon wedge, but it was still nice.

Once he had met that girl, Dawn, and her teacher, Rowan, they had hit it off. They were pretty understanding about his problem with Ko-Ai (Dawn said her Prima was the same. He delved no further.), and had even decided to help him with his memory loss. Lodgings were trickier, though.

Dawn offered to let him stay at her house, and her parents agreed. So did Dawn's sister, and with zeal. He liked watching the little bluenette tease Dawn about her 'boyfriend', but Ko-Ai was apparently extremely jealous. She also didn't get teasing, or that guests shouldn't attempt to quiet their hosts using dangerously loud noise. Luckily, the am of Ko-Ai on a full stomach was lousy, so no one got hurt.

He tried Rowan's next, but Rowan lived in his lab, and Delta did not like labs. Ignoring the lack of room to sleep and no beds(did Rowan just not sleep?), it reminded him of the memories he had yet to access.

It was actually while he was in Sandgem that Dawn introduced Lucas's mom, Mathilda. She was shopping in Sandgem Market when Dawn spotted her, and dragged him along to say hello. She was friendly, if a little sad looking, and seemed to find him uncomfortable for some reason. Nevertheless, she drooled over Ko-Ai.

The little fox's latest trick was hiding in his jacket, and sniffing around for food or something. When she poked her head out of the amnesiacs collar, Mathilda seemed to flip out a little. She pinched, pulled, tickled, prodded, and petted Ko-Ai, who dutifully accepted the attention. Being a trainer, and a lost trainer at that, was more than enough to gain Mathilda's sympathy. So, when a Dawn headed out again to try and get lucky on her search for Lucas, Delta would accompany her. Until then, he was a resident of the Moss household.

Presently, he was investigating his new abode...not really. He was drinking tea Mrs. Moss made. Technically, he had left Ko-Ai to it. She was sniffing the floor, crawling under the bed, and was now operating the PC. He figured he shouldn't be surprised by that last one, and that it would make more sense once all his memories got back. It was harder for him to rationalize how an eevee could gain the necessary dexterity to manipulate the controls, but thanks to tea, not impossible.

"Hmmm..." His thoughts drifted toward the woman who was Lucas's mother. Why did she let him stay here? Twinleaf was known for local hospitality, but he felt there was more. The first time she saw him, she looked almost disappointed, as if...ah. Dawn was searching for Lucas, and he was near his size and age. He probably was quite an unpleasant reminder. On the other hand, it could explain why she even let him stay. He and Lucas were in similar situations. Both were apparently trainers, and both were lost. If Lucas was lost, in mind and body, wouldn't Mrs. Moss like to think a kind person would spare a bed? And if so, shouldn't she do the same?

He finished his tea, assured that he could still understand the world, if not his own mind. Plus, contemplating the relationship between Lucas and his mother reawakened more of his own. The one he only thought of as 'Her', who talked to him about Ko-Ai, was his _mother_.

He stretched out on the bed, feeling a little worried. While he was happy to clean up some memories, the dark feeling she instilled in him...and how his brain couldn't-or wouldn't-put a face to the name. Lucas loved his mother, but how did he feel about his own?

* * *

Rowan rubbed his chin thoughtfully, contemplating how to go about this. He knew he could count on Dawn, but that boy was...off. His movements were smooth and confident, but always seemed ready to jump and run. His words always seemed numbly cynical in their lazy delivery, but his eyes were the deal breaker. They seemed flat and lifeless, but Rowan could see the clinical precision they bore, and the apathetic study with which he scanned the world. Most of all?

Delta seemed much to dismissive of his state, not in the least bit worried about anyone even looking for him. It was as if such mediocre situations were entirely natural to him, and he became inured.

Rowan felt this boy had something to offer, bit not what. Luckily, he had the perfect excuse for Dawn to keep watch over him. Plus, he could cross a few things off his to-do list.

* * *

Delta studied his pink sash. Why was a boy wearing so much pink? And why so much brown? He concluded he looked like a strawberry-chocolate swirl milkshake, and that whoever dressed him wasn't fashionable. If it was himself, so be it.

He was feeling the soft fabric when he came upon 3 other pokéballs besides Ko-Ai's. Two were empty, but each linked to pokémon. The other, however, was holding something. He didn't know what though, nor how to figure it out. He rolled it around his fingers a bit before an idea hatched.

He gently pulled Ko-Ai off the stool, who mewled in protest. He found a connecting wire, and hooked the PC up to the funny-shaped pokéball. The computer hummed, and displayed a three-dimensional image of his mystery pokémon. The pokémon was small and furry, standing on two legs. Its fur was yellow, with a silver pattern of geometric shapes with curved edges. Most identifiable was the prominent mouth shaped horn atop its skull.

"Bingo. **Name: Mawhile, the deceiver pokémon. Type: steel/fairy. Rank: vanguard. Notes: stats are oriented for hand-to-hand combat, given low speed, special stats, and HP. Defensive power and physical attack power make it formidable, matched with its deceptive and tricky nature. Despite its cute appearance, it can use the jaw-like appendage on its skull to chew through iron, and masticate prey. Mega-evolution gives it the knight class." **

Ko-Ai barked at the pokéball, trying to open it. She had got it in her mouth, but didn't know how to proceed from there.

Delta had decided that if Ko-Ai wanted her friend(?) out so badly, he would oblige. But first, he searched around under Lucas's bed for something he found a while ago.

"I know it's here...aha!" A candy stash! If that walking vice trap wanted a snack, it wouldn't be him.

* * *

The boat/raft/coffin touched land in the middle of the night. A young woman got up and stretched until her spine ached. It was cold, and dark, and it smelled like bugs for some reason, but she was sa-

"And what might you be, all alone?" A voice in the darkness made Stella seize up in terror. The sheer malice within those few words was enough for her guts to become stone, and her mind molasses. "Is it really safe for you to be out here..._with me_?"

Stella whipped her head to the left at what she thought was a rock, but was rather a large pokemon. A large pokémon. A huge, purple pokémon with red carapace. Scolipede.

When Stella didn't answer, the costumed freak behind the poison bulldozer presented himself. He looked like he was on an espionage mission disguised like a massive insect.

"Little girl," Stella bristled at the mocking tone," when an adult speaks, _you answer_."

Without warning, scolipede's tail flicked forward to release a poison spike directly at her forehead. It was a spiral drill, with speed that grew exponentially as it pulled toward the slack-jawe victim-and was blown away by a geyser of water.

She was dumbstruck. He had just tried to kill her! But then it caught up to her, and fear turned to shock turned to wrath.

'He_ tried to kill _me_! Stuff like that doesn't happen to me-I happen to other people! And so does my pokémon! Like right now!'_

The bug-man reeled. "You-"

"Are not alone." She cut him off, and felt the creeping dread leave her body as she felt a dorsal fin nudge her back.

"And we," her voice raised in a crescendo,"will never be alone again! Be the first in a long line of wicked casualties, 'cuz you just angered a sea-god! Now, **wash him away**!"


End file.
